At the Edge of Forever
by numina
Summary: Fifty sentences, fifty insights into the life and times - and afterwards, even, - of the Hero of Sablier: the illustrious Jack Vessalius. Spoilers for Pandora Hearts.


Fifty sentences on the Hero of Sablier: Jack Vessalius.

I do not own Pandora Hearts; everything here is fictional, no profit intended.

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**#01 - Motion**

The spring was wound, and the lock released; and for a moment, Jack was blinded by how bright Alice's smile was when the music started playing.

**#02 - Cool**

Keeping cool these days were such a pain, really - that was what he told Glen when his best friend caught Jack shirtless in the former's bedroom.

**#03 - Young**

He died so early and so wasted, people lamented, like a sunflower fading as night fell.

**#04 - Last**

"This is my last request," he murmured, clasping shaking hands, "Please, Arthur."

**#05 - Wrong**

"Now, now, hush, Vincent - they just don't know how beautiful your eye is."

**#06 - Gentle**

He had incredible hand-eye coordination, Gilbert observed, from meticulously creating timepieces, to gently cleaning up a papercut.

**#07 - One**

One hundred years, and all he had to show for it were mottled hands and shattered memories.

**#08 - Thousand**

"A thousand curses," he said muzzily, hearing Gilbert stammer worriedly as the boy stole away with the bottle of whisky, "On - on - _on - _ribbons. And raindrops."

**#09 - King**

He may be the white king, but he never really liked using his pawns.

**#10 - Learn**

There was nobody who taught him how to take things apart and put them together again; it was just a hobby that got really out of hand.

**#11 - Blur**

His vision is blurring and the edges are patching black as he feels cold steel slice through his chest.

**#12 - Wait**

"Wait, Jack!" Alice cried, and as always, he turned back with a smile and arms wide open for an embrace.

**#13 - Change**

A century could change the landscape so much, Jack reflected, but not the people.

**#14 - Command**

The only time he held any air of authority was after he had slain his best friend; the very act had made the blood in his veins turn into liquid steel.

**#15 - Hold**

"To have and to hold, to love and to cherish - no, Gilbert, I am not marrying your brother and Alice."

**#16 - Need**

"Really?" He asked, hands fisting into his sides as his best friend smiled up at him from the table. "I don't think you do."

**#17 - Vision**

Lotti caught him with a blindfold one sunny afternoon, and wouldn't take it off until Jack realised he was two seconds away from falling into a puddle of water.

**#18 - Attention**

She commanded all of his attention, even when she was gone.

**#19 - Soul**

...he really didn't expect that his soul shattering into pieces entailed exruciating pain.

**#20 - Picture**

There hadn't been cameras back in his time, so when Oz and his friends take a picture after a tea party, Jack feels like he doesn't quite belong.

**#21 - Fool**

Everyone called him a fool, nowadays - and he was okay with that, so as long as he was a happy one.

**#22 - Mad**

"We're all mad here," the Intention cackled in Alice's body, and Jack merely sighed fondly before pouring her another cup of tea.

**#23 - Child **

He'd never dreamed of having children, but watching Gil and Vince sleep, curled up in each other's arms, sometimes made him think otherwise.

**#24 - Now**

There's only the now, he'd like to tell Oz, you cannot change the past, nor can you peek into the present.

**#25 - Shadow**

Glen once left a five o' clock shadow, just to see, and Jack couldn't stop laughing at the look on Lotti's face when she saw.

**#26 - Goodbye**

He never said goodbye to any of them, to the people that mattered; he never had the chance.

**#27 - Hide**

"Good heavens, Gilbert, come out, it's just a kitten."

**#28 - Fortune**

Jack's first reaction when seeing the Baskerville estate's extravagant façade: "I think I'm going to pass out."

**#29 - Safe**

He'd paid with his eternal peace for this, and like _hell_ is he going to let it go that easily.

**#30 - Ghost**

"You know what's more frightening than ghosts?" Glen asks, nudging him with a shoulder as lighting arces over a stormy sky, "Real, live people."

**#31 - Book**

_Inaccurate_, he wants to scream, as Oz leafs through one of the historical tomes in the Vessalius library.

**#32 - Eye**

"Don't mind them," he tells Vincent, soothingly, as he takes the boys out to the market for a spot of shopping.

**#33 - Never**

He writes letters, sometimes, to Glen, to Alice, to Lacie, and then stuffs them under his bedroom mattress where he can't see them.

**#34 - Sing**

Jack can almost hear Lacie sing with how much effort his best friend puts into his newest composition.

**#35 - Sudden**

The rainshower catches him by surprise, and reminds him how _much_ of a pain it is to unbraid wet hair of that length.

**#36 - Stop**

He hopes and prays and begs to whatever deity watching over them that his sacrifice is enough.

**#37 - Time**

The last time he visits the Vessalius sanctuary, he is alone, bandages trailing over marble - and he watches as the clock runs and stops at five minutes before noon.

**#38 - Wash**

Vincent is giggling, and Gilbert is staring up at him with faint reproach as he looms over the both of them with a bar of soap in hand.

**#39 - Torn**

He's running, trying to hide from a certain pink-haired girl once again, and then his waistcoat catches on brambles; the ripping sound gives him away.

**#40 - History**

"Everybody lies," Jack tells Oz in his dreams, when the boy asks him about his 'supposed' title - the Hero of Sablier.

**#41 - Power**

Jack is painfully aware of what power is: monsters that draw blood, chains that bind tight, and betrayal that cuts deep.

**#42 - Bother**

"I really do hope I'm not a bother," was Jack Vessalius' favourite phrase for some time, until Glen told him to stop it - and stop he did.

**#43 - God**

He doesn't believe in any singular god, but he still takes the time to kneel over his precious girl's body to pray for her soul.

**#44 - Wall**

"I really don't believe that there's a secret opening in this wall_aaaaahhhhh - _"

**#45 - Naked**

Jack is really, really looking forward to the time when he can tease Gilbert and Vincent with 'But love! I've seen you _naked_.'

**#46 - Drive**

Nobody understood the real reason that drove Jack Vessalius to raise his sword against Glen Baskerville, and Jack was, really, quite content with that.

**#47 - Harm**

He sometimes wondered what had driven Vincent to take up his hobby of murdering stuffed toys; what had happened to the younger boy, to want him to harm such innocent things?

**#48 - Precious**

Jack held all that he knew close to his heart: irreplaceable, unmovable, unbearably precious - and it _hurt_ so much when all of them were torn away.

**#49 - Hunger**

He doesn't feel humanly pangs, not anymore - but the things that his soul longs for (completion, forgiveness, _peace_) hurt so much more.

**#50 - Believe**

Believing in happy endings is foolish, this he knows full well, but he's still hoping for Oz to get his - the boy deserves it.


End file.
